Austin Real Pros

I was treated extremely unprofessionally by Chris Rodriguez, an agent with «Real Pros». I was rushed into an offer over the weekend with a last, best and final offer saying there were several offers on the table with a 5 pm cut off Sunday evening. I received a Monday email saying the owners had accepted my offer. I wrote earnest checks and sent contract for signing Tuesday morning. I received no further response until Thursday afternoon saying that they had sold the house to someone else. No explanation other than «I can’t tell you».
A word of warning! Stay far away from agents like this. And most likely from this agency. They don’t seem to be interested in servicing anything other than their own bank account. This was unprofessional and extremely stressful at a time when we should have been happy. Lies and broken words are no way to do business.
Shame on you Chris Rodriguez. And shame on you Austin Real Pros. Public be warned.

I wish there were negative stars, these people are a nightmare. The past 13mos have been the unhealthiest of my life due to mold, rats, water in the walls, non functioning heat and A/​C — not to mention MANY other issues. The mismanagement of the property I was in falls into the category of disastrous failures. Beaux Briggs and Bill Evans are the rudest, most arrogant, least helpful individuals I have EVER met. I moved out and within days the home has been tagged as «substandard» and «unsafe» by code compliance. I can only hope that at some point these horrible individuals experience even half the hardships they cause others. MAYBE that would teach some empathy and manners — something these miserable individuals completely lack.

Austin Real Pros’ Pat Dukett helped me to secure two well qualified and thoughtful tenants for my rental property. Her attractive listings, sound advice on apartment appointments, and thorough background check of interested tenants have grown my confidence about entering the rental market, as a fixed income retiree.
Pat is an effective listener, addresses concerns and answers queries, professionally, concerning how to manage deposits and costs for clean up between tenants, etc. I feel my property and ‘retirement investment’ are in good hands w/​Pat Duckett, Austin Real Pros, and I am happy to recommend Pat’s ‘real pro’ services. Thanks, Pat!

Austin Real Pros and Pat Dukett are professional and conscientious. As a property owner, I have been a faithful and satisfied client and have used their leasing services for over 19 years. I appreciate their attention to detail, their friendly manner in doing business and I know that my property is being well maintained and my tenants are always treated fairly. My best interest and the tenant’s satisfaction is their highest concern. I highly recommend them as Realtors and Property Managers. And they are really nice people!

I wish I had that I had read these reviews prior to renting a home from Pat Dukett with Austin Real Pros. She is absolutely, the worst person I have ever dealt with in any realty transaction. I cannot in good faith endorse her or her company. My husband and our 1 year old child were moving to Austin, TX last year when we happened to view her home. Although it was a very modest home in size it met our current short term needs. I should have followed my gut and not rented after our first encounter with her over the phone. We were asked to mail our pet and rental deposit $ 1595 for rental and $ 800 for pet, of which $ 400 was non-​refundable. I had taken the funds via cashiers check from our bank account and mailed them as requested. Due to a holiday they arrived one day late. This literally sent Pat into a verbal frenzy calling and harassing us as if we had not mailed them in time. I should have known that was not a good way to start the rental agreement. I had to jump through hoops and get online copies of the cashiers check from my back, the day they were withdrawn, and the receipt from the post office proving the time at which I mailed the checks. This was all in order to prove that I had actually mailed the checks on time as I had stated.
When we moved into the home Pat met us at the house to give us our keys and do a walk through. The first thing I noticed was how Dirty the home was. She has promised that it would be professionally cleaned. It was anything but clean. It was filthy in some places. All of that being said it was still a place to live in a good neighborhood. Throughout the lease/​rental agreement Pat was very much «involved» in the house. She wanted to be too involved. We had several different encounters with her regarding lawn watering, washer and dryer, lawn maintenance, so on and so forth. I understand the need to know what is going on with your property, but her involvement was over and above.
During the last week of the lease Pat had several painters come through the house to provide quotes as she was having it painted inside and out. She wanted to have the painters in there painting while we were moving out. We had the home rented through the end of May and our last day in the home was going to be on the 30^th, leaving a full day for her painters to do any work prior to the end of our lease. The painters arrived on the afternoon of the 30^th and actually that was fine as they were a nice buffer to her abrasive attitude. We were out by the evening of the 30^th.
Finally, as expected about a month after our departure from the rental I received our remaining deposit and the letter of explanation. With the initial deposit of $ 1595 plus the $ 800 pet deposit, $ 400 of which was refundable I was returned $ 998 of the potential $ 1995. I will concede that some of the damaged assessed was due to our dog Zoe and fully expected. That was roughly $ 500, but the remain things that we were charged for were normal home wear and tear. We were charged for holes caused by hanging things on the walls etc. It was ridiculous. I honestly should have done my homework prior to renting from this woman or her company. If I had read any of these reviews I would have known how shady they are and how much they charge their tenants for ordinary repairs at the end of their lease. I hope that my review will at least steer you away from doing any business with these folks. There are many people out there with good rentals and much better reputable companies to work with.

We rented for 4 years, and Austin Real Pros were sub par in the repair area. One example was the refrigerator. It had problems 4 times. They were quite slow to respond, taking days. When they finally replaced it, they did so with a used refrigerator that was much smaller, wobbles (can’t be leveled) and doesn’t even fit the space. I wonder it the owner of the home is aware that he got such a poor replacement for his money. The AC broke at least 5 times in the summer, and the repairmen would fix it, only to have it break again. The process would take days. At one point they tried to tell us it was our fault because we «obviously weren’t changing the filter,» and they were going to charge us for the repairs. When they actually looked at the filter, they could see that it had indeed been changed recently. We were reliable, clean renters, and I felt like they treated us poorly.

I admittedly rented this apartment with a little trepidation. It just seemed like TOO good of a deal, you know? But lots of natural light streaming in, the huge two-​bedroom space and the washer and dryer that came with the unit was just too much for me resist and I rented it. I’m really glad I did. The neighborhood is definitely still a little up-​and-​coming, but the neighbors in the adjacent apartment complex, the adjacent house and the adjacent three units (of the 4-​unit quad-​plex I rented in) were all kind. As a single female living on the first floor, I felt pretty safe. I also appreciated that the area seemed quiet.
The unit had been upgraded before I moved in, and although the floors weren’t real wood, the place had lots of natural light flooding in all the time. It definitely could probably use some new cabinetry, but it’s nothing a little shelf lining didn’t fix for me. I’ll admit, there were some bugs when I moved in. But they immediately sent folks to take care of it, and although I was nervous it would be a lease-​long struggle, I never saw any after the exterminators came in. I think it may have been because the previous tenants weren’t super clean, or it could have possibly been the work that was done to the apartment before I moved in. In any case, though I was a little nervous for the first few days, it was bug-​free the rest of the time I lived there.
I also really liked working with Beaux the manager. He was just always a quick call or email away, and always sent people immediately. He was really a pleasure to work with. My A/​C wasn’t working and they put a new one in the next day. I also felt like the utility bills were really cheap — I didn’t exactly conserve electricity but my bills never felt too high.
So it’s definitely not a new place I lived in – and for some folks who only want brand new units, I could see that being unattractive. But I feel like it was a great deal and never felt like I had any trouble working with the management. The only reason why I’m not living there longer is I’m moving out of the city. I know this company has some less-​than favorable reviews, and I could be accused of having rose-​colored glasses when it comes to a giant 2-​bedroom with lots of windows for a good deal, but I honestly had a really pleasant experience.

I would say you really can do better if you’re looking for a realty in Austin. As a renter, I would not rent from them again. Their payment system is a 19^th-​century-​era shambles. Also, they are happy to terminate your lease with 30 days notice, and not a moment’s flexibility. And forget any hope of seeing your deposit again, no matter if you cleaned your place top to bottom before moving out and its slated for demolition anyways. There are good people working there, but you will need to be very lucky for any of them to lift a finger on your behalf. You would hope that a company vested in real estate would be able to demonstrate a measure of neighborly friendliness, but that is sadly lacking at Austin Real Pros. Pity.

Austin Real Pros and Beaux Briggs specifically were great property managers while we were leasing a house. They were very responsive and immediately took care of any issues we had with the property.
The move out instructions they provided were very clear, and they refunded our deposit when they said they would.
They were very honest and professional in their dealings with us. I would highly recommend them as property managers.

Austin Real Pros was professional and took care of our needs while renting one of their properties. Over 3 years and very little for me to complain about.

We moved in March 2^nd and noticed stained floors, damaged walls, dishwasher started smoking (we have video), exposed electrical wires, black mold under sink and rotten base boards and the list goes on. It is now March 24^th and still have not followed up to make sure these serious health issues have been fixed. We are going to seek legal action if nothing happens by the end of March. Austin Real Pros make you jump through many hoops, like no paypal account or personal check for down payment for all deposits so you need to give a cashiers check. You have to fill out stacks for forms and everything has to be completed like you are purchasing a 500k house but when it comes to repairs they will barely lift a finger to call. I should have read the other Unilocal reviews before using Austin Real Pros. Ironically they are the opposite of their name. Beware!
They finally fixed the serious issues.
I changed my rating from 1 star to 3 stars based on the service I received from Beaux.

I really wish I could put less than one star! About three years ago my husband and I move here across the country to live with his little brother. His little brother was put to the task of find us all a place to live. He used Ruby Johnson from this company. She procrastinated so much that when we arrived we did not have a place to live for a week so we crammed the two of us and our four animals into his two bedroom apartment with him and his roommate. After that week we had a house.
After staying in the house for three years we decided it was time to move out. The place we had planned on moving into had fallen through early in our last month. Little brother suggested using her again (I guess he liked her). I contacted her (26 days left until move out) and she put us in the system right away. Everything had seemed fine. Instead of using the list how it was intended she ask for me to copy and paste all the MLS numbers and addresses and email them to her as they came up. Not a big deal so I did so. After about a week and a half of sending her 15 different properties (about 16 days left to move out) we still did not have any showings. I asked her if we could have a showing on a couple places and she acted like I was asking her to build me a house in a day. She waited DAYS to get back to me about the properties and when she finally did she informed me that they were leased. Another week and a half went by and I sent her ten more properties to look at. Finally, starting to get frustrated, I ask her to please look at the list and set up showings (11 days left to move out) I immediately receive a phone call from her (sounding as though she was on the verge of tears) saying that she was sensing some frustration from me and thought it would be better if we found a different Realtor. With 11 days left.
She was very rude, unprofessional, and lazy. DO NOT HIRE RUBY JOHNSON.

worst realtor experience. stayed at del mar off 34^th street as a senior at UT. very poorly managed/​run down property, and they make you pay HUNDREDS for «damages» and cleaning you were not responsible for. I spent a few days making sure everything was in order and clean before i moved out, and was still billed several hundred dollars for literally nothing. the lady who is the realtor here is very rude, constantly barging in without notice. when i asked for a little bit of notice, she just told me to get over it. usually i have pretty good experiences with realtors, so this was a big shock to me. i cannot speak for the other realtors for this company, but she/​del mar were horrendous.

DO NOT LEASE
I can only speak for those who have leased or intend to. For reference, I was a senior at UT when I leased a 3 br house with two friends.
I’ll start with the general sleazy real estate stereotypes that apply to them. First, when we decided to lease a house with them, we tried to negotiate a lower price but were told that we would need to put in a number higher than what the house was listed at because there were 3 people ahead of us in the process and this would increase our chances of getting the house. Turns out that was not true. We accidentally paid $ 5 extra every month and were never told that we were overpaying. They pocketed that $ 60 and when we asked if we could apply it to the damages incurred at the end of the year they had never heard of of us overpaying. Maintenance was slow and they threatened to make us pay for something when it was clearly a cheap quality part that was a fault. Getting in touch with Tom Ellis is nearly impossible. I’ve probably seen two or three blue moons in between times I’ve been in contact with him and both times were through email (I’d expect to get struck by lightening before I could get him on the phone or see him in the office).
Now for the fun stuff. Here’s how ARP goes above and beyond to screw you over. We received less than half of our security deposit when we moved out. There were shrubs planted in the backyard when we moved in that were not capable of surviving through the winter. When we moved out we were charged because they had to replace them. There were misc items left in the garage when we moved in that looked like they belonged to the landlord. We were charged for the removal of these items. There were multiple charges for chipped paint. The problem is that we know what paint they used because they left it in the garage and not only was it low quality paint, they did not use primer (they painted the walls in dark colors so that it would cover) and only used one coat of paint. We were charged for a cleaning service after move out when we left the house much cleaner than when we moved in. We were falsely charged for late rent on multiple occasions and when we tried to contact them to contest it Tom never replied and conveniently withdrew the unpaid late fees from the security deposit. Finally, when wrote Tom to contest the deductions from our security deposit his reply was «I’m sorry you do not agree with our assessments, however they stand» and that’s the last we heard from him.
All in all, Tom is the main source of the ire that I have for ARP. He is the epitome of the Realtor that you don’t want to deal with. No, he redefines the Realtor that you don’t want to deal with. If you have to deal with ARP then I hope you intend to buy because I wouldn’t want to have to be in contact with them for more than a week or two

I recently got out of the disgusting apartment complex managed by this company that I lived in for 10 and a half months. Why 10 and a half months? Because I decided it was worth it to pay double rent for a month and a half rather than live at the Austin Real Pros property.
1.) After I moved in I noticed a few bugs, so I let them know within the 30 days that you have to notify them for them to take any responsibility. They dodged for about 7 months on that issue, until the entire building (my friend lived on the other side) was infested.
2.) My oven did not work from the time I moved in. I notified them of that very shortly after I moved in (a week or so), and it was not fixed until months later either. It turned out that the pilot light was out, but I had never had a gas oven before, so I didn’t know how it worked or that the problem was that. After the contractor came out and lit it, Austin Real Pros sent me a letter saying that if I did not pay $ 70 with my rent that month (due about a week later) that I would be considered to be late on rent. The letter, which was the very first correspondence on the issue — I had no idea they were going to charge me at all — also threatened eviction if I did not pay the repair with or before rent. I called the contractor asking what they had done to fix the oven and they explained that they had simply lit the pilot light. I asked them if there was any reason for me to have caused it to go out or to be expected to light it myself and they said «no.» I told them that I was being charged for the repair and they took it upon themselves to call Austin Real Pros and tell them that they were not to charge me. (Appliance Connection — great and super friendly repairmen!)
3.) A water main broke in the apartment building flooding my friend’s apartment. (The building had the worst plumbing I’ve ever experienced.) They tried to blame him! Seriously! They tried to charge him for the break, the damage to his apartment and the damage to all of the rest of the flooded property. Only at the point that he strongly put his foot down with them (possibly threatening legal action, I can’t remember entirely), did they no longer try to blame him.
4.) All of this would not have been so deeply frustrating was it not for Tom Ellis’ snotty, childish attitude. He has never been remotely friendly to me or, that I have seen, to the staff. I don’t think I’ve ever even seen him smile. He is incredibly smug and will come up with any excuse to not fix something, or to charge you for it once it is finally, possibly after months, fixed.
Most of my landlords/​property management companies have been great to the point of my befriending many office workers/​repairmen in the apartments I’ve lived at. I can only think of one other company that I had even the slightest issue with. This company is borderline criminal in their practices and I will never allow a friend of mine to move into a property of theirs without knowing what they are getting into. I cannot dissuade anyone enough from putting themselves through a year of dealing with this company or Tom Ellis. This company preys on tenants who are afraid of eviction or do not know their rights.

Bill Evans is the greatest ever.
He came highly recommended by a trusted co-​worker who had bought 3 houses or so with him. Another co-​worker was a close friend of his and I believe had also purchased homes through Bill.
Anyway, we had a blast learning about Austin’s real estate market when we worked with Bill two years ago. He’s honest, blunt and just knows his stuff. Buying a home, especially your first, is a huge and scary experience – I’m so glad we had Bill by our side when we did it.
We used the mortgage broker he recommended and she was amazing (they’ve worked together so it was smooth sailing for our closing). We’ve also used an electrician he recommended and we use his lawn guy!
We now consider Bill a friend and would not consider using any other agent in the future. We recommended him to a co-​worker and she and her husband were very pleased as well.

I just finished working w/​Stevie Bear to lease the condo I’ll be moving into.
She is awesome! Very friendly, funny, and down to earth.
She’s totally flexible with her times, was always able to meet us in the late afternoon, after we got off work. And she was always on time!
Some day, when I can buy rather than lease, I’ll wont think twice about using Stevie’s services. She’s available for sales, leasing and investing.